MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clubs and 2 independent clubs. MLS Next Pro is classified as part of the third tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by a system o ...

History

On June 21, 2021,

announced the creation of a new professional league which would begin play in 2022. MLS has applied to the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

for the league to be sanctioned as a Division III professional league, the same level currently occupied by

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

and the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

and one level below the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

. MLS announced that Next Pro would start with at least 20 teams, many of them owned by Major League Soccer and development teams between their first-teams and their youth academies. All MLS clubs with reserve teams in the

initially planned to move those sides to MLS Next Pro by 2023. D.C. United's formerly owned-and-operated

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

was sold to independent buyers. The inaugural match of MLS Next Pro was played on March 25, 2022, at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis. St. Louis City 2 defeated Rochester New York FC 2–0.

Wan Kuzain Wan Kuzain bin Wan Ahmad Kamal (born September 14, 1998) is an American professional association football, soccer player who plays as a midfielder for MLS Next Pro side St. Louis City 2 and has played for the United States at the under-17 leve ...

scored the first ever goal in the 20th minute. The league makes use of unique rules such as all regular season draws being decided by penalty shootouts and the addition of concussion substitutions. On July 6, 2022, new rules for the league were introduced in the middle of the season. This included an off-field treatment rule meant to curb

gamesmanship Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods p ...

and timewasting and a new rule for red card suspensions: The suspension a player gets for getting a red card or two yellow cards in the same game will be served by the player when next playing against the same opponent.

Competition format

The league runs from spring to fall with the season kicking off in March. Each team plays 28 regular-season games, followed by an 14-team playoff tournament. The league is divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. Unlike Major League Soccer, MLS Next Pro does not feature a salary cap and player contracts are held by the teams, not the league. Team rosters can have up to 24 professional players (not including amateur academy players) with a maximum of seven international players. An MLS Next Pro club's active roster contains up to 35 players, all of whom are eligible for selection to each official match roster during the MLS Next Pro season.

Teams

Future teams

Former teams

Timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:22 Period = from:2020 till:2028 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:100 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:blue id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a current league member id:Former value:rgb(0.4,0.80,0.67) # Use this color to denote a team that is a former league member id:Future value:rgb(0.5,0.7,0.95) id:Other value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote when team that has moved in from a different league was active in the prior league(s) PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Chicago Fire FC II (2022–present) bar:2 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Colorado Rapids 2 (2022–present) bar:3 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Columbus Crew 2 (2022–present) bar:4 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:FC Cincinnati 2 (2022–present) bar:5 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Houston Dynamo 2 (2022–present) bar:6 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL League One bar:6 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Inter Miami CF II (2022–present) bar:7 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Minnesota United FC 2 (2022–present) bar:8 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL League One bar:8 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:New England Revolution II (2022–present) bar:9 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:New York City FC II (2022–present) bar:10 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL League One bar:10 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:North Texas SC (2022–present) bar:11 color:Other from:2020 till:2021 text:USL League One bar:11 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Orlando City B (2022–present) bar:12 color:Other from:2020 till:2021 text:USL Championship bar:12 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Philadelphia Union II (2022–present) bar:13 color:Other from:2020 till:2021 text:USL Championship bar:13 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Portland Timbers 2 (2022–present) bar:14 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL Championship bar:14 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Real Monarchs (2022–present) bar:15 color:Former from:2022 till:2023 text:Rochester New York FC (2022) bar:16 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:St. Louis City 2 (2022–present) bar:17 color:Full from:2022 till:2024 text:San Jose Earthquakes II (2022–23) bar:17 color:Full from:2024 till:end text:The Town FC (2024–present) bar:18 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL Championship bar:18 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Sporting Kansas City II (2022–present) bar:19 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL Championship bar:19 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Tacoma Defiance (2022–present) bar:20 color:Other from:2020 till:2022 text:USL League One bar:20 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Toronto FC II (2022–present) bar:21 color:Full from:2022 till:end text:Whitecaps FC 2 (2022–present) bar:22 color:Other from:2020 till:2023 text:USL Championship bar:22 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Atlanta United 2 (2023–present) bar:23 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Austin FC II (2023–present) bar:24 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Crown Legacy FC (2023–present) bar:25 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Huntsville City FC (2023–present) bar:26 color:Other from:2020 till:2023 text:USL Championship bar:26 color:Full from:2023 till:2024 text:LA Galaxy II (2022–23) bar:26 color:Full from:2024 till:end text:Ventura County FC (2024–present) bar:27 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Los Angeles FC 2 (2023–present) bar:28 color:Other from:2020 till:2023 text:USL Championship bar:28 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:New York Red Bulls II (2023–present) bar:29 color:Full from:2024 till:end text:Carolina Core FC (2024–present) bar:30 color: Other from:2020 till:2024 text:NISA bar:30 color:Full from:2024 till:end text:Chattanooga FC (2024–present) bar:31 color:Future from:2026 till:end text:Jacksonville Armada FC bar:32 color:Future from:2026 till:end text:CT United FC bar:33 color:Future from:2026 till:end text:Cleveland bar:34 color:Future from:2027 till:end text:Grand Rapids bar:35 color:Future from:2027 till:end text:Golden City ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2020 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:

Champions

Finals

Individual game highest attendance

Regular season

MLS Next Pro Cup Playoffs

References

External links

* {{CONCACAF third leagues Major League Soccer 2021 establishments in the United States Professional soccer leagues in the United States Soccer leagues in Canada Sports leagues established in 2021 Summer association football leagues Multi-national professional sports leagues

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Third-level association football leagues in North America